Surveillance Technologies and Bible Prophecy

Regarding the Snowden revelations about government surveillance, Robertson observed that these practices were setting the stage for the End Times. We seem to be approaching an epoch described in the Bible, he said, where there is no freedom and where Big Brother monitored everything. The Bible points out, he went on, that there will be a day when you cant buy or sell without the Mark of the Beast, you have to be part of that world system and a very, very few can escape because right now they can go down into the bush in the darkest Africa and hunt you down.

Mouw remembers James Houston’s warnings against abuse of technological power in 1971:

James Houston and Pat Robertson were both looking for biblical guidance for what we might expect to see in the unfolding capacities of advanced technologies in our world. I wish Robertson had encouraged the same corrective strategies that Houston recommended four decades ago. One important way of countering the beastly threats of our time is to engage in the kind of activities Houston proposed, especially a mindful Christian scholarly focus on the practical concerns that advanced technologies raise.